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While more large scale terror and mayhem moves throughout Konoha, a much smaller scale one is being fought beneath the cover of it all. The battle between the more hidden operations of each villages happens when Agent Seven of ANBU, meets with a Hunter Ninja of Kirigakure.

Strange. The pathway coming from the east seems to stretch forth and create a large circular opening of grass. There are no trees found within this circular area, it is unknown how this marvel of nature was created; Or by who. Several pathways are linked to this circular area, some pathways seem tricky whilst others seem rarely wandered. The odd on or two pathways provide an easy trip through the forest.

Behind the scenes of it all, within the deeper shadows of the ninja world, lied another war. This one was much more intricate, more deadly. If everyone which fought upon this field of battle were pawns upon the board, then the more these men and women were bishops, knights, and otherwise. Moving across the board with much deeper skills, and more individual tasks, these operatives do the work which the more, the young, and the less patriotic can not. Its called Black Operations for a reason. The Black represents a darker purpose for which most men will never know. These individual exist in more than just one place. However, this story only tells a single period in time of the meeting of two. Two in the sense of opposite sides, meeting in a path of fate, predestined, and not predicted.

Night seemed to present many challenges for most ninja on the field of battle. However, for command, this same darkness seemed to give many advantages. There were some ninja that could go bump in the night, and the upper echelon were happy to give the order to. Seven, an operative of Konoha's ANBU Black OPS, had a simple one. Find Kirigakurean outposts and temporary bunkers in the Land of Fire, and eliminate or slow down operations as much as possible. Method preferred, had been the elimination of the commanding officers. However, such had not been truly stressed. The larger of the ANBU agents lurked, having been out in the field almost two days time. The Agent's central locations had been limited to outpost in the central area of the Land of Fire, just dead center of all nautical locations. Seven seemed to linger only scouting, not making any moves. The operative had not found a satisfactory target. A plan had been made for such a case, and only an hour's time waited for execution it. For now, the Boar waited.

A target the one known as Seven would soon find as he was targeted in turn. Amongst those that walked the paths of shadows are many that are nothing more than whispers told to the ears of those that would never wake. In turn there was an opposite, those that raged along those shadowed paths like storms of death. Where these monsters walked nothing was left in their wake. One such monster, nameless but for his title of Hunter, strode through the dark. His feet made no sound, and where he walked it seemed the brush did not touch him or rustle. He made no point of hiding himself though, for he was as much the harbinger of death as any, a spirit to those that had seen him from afar, and the end of existence for those that crossed his path. Thus it was that he walked through the woods where the one known as Seven waited.

Now in most cases, the more threatening individuals were the ones which received the most attention. Seven was a on a mission where not the strongest or most powerful ninja was targeted… but, the commanding official. So when another masked individual goes walking through the dark, while the Boar did notice, the agent didn't act on attacking. If ANBU was let to it, the agent still maintained the imperatives of the mission. Knock out the outpost. For now, Seven hid, dropping down from the high perch for which was took, and stalking toward the camp, already readying Chakra for what was soon to come. For when the moon was covered by over hanging clouds, the mission soon would began.

The hunter, as he passed, did not notice the ANBU. His purpose was clear, to go amongst the inhabitants of the Land of Fire and make whole villages and camps disappear. To remove every trace of those that resided there vanish as if they had never been. It was not those of great strength he sought in turn, though he hungered for a fight, it was simply the purpose of demoralizing those they fought. Commanders and captains could be replaced, but it was the very lifeline of the land that this Hunter sought to sever. So it was he continued, glancing towards the stars and adjusting his direction towards one of the small farming villages outside of Konoha, where a storm of death would rage.

As Seven made way towards the camp, something made the operative turn mid pace. The path for which the Hunter nin was heading. Wasn't that way headed to Kadomai? Probably was. The agent sighed. Thinking had being of total conflict with the mission at hand. Though on the dark end of the spectrum, there were some dark places that even Seven could not plunge into. One of those had been the forsaking of innocent lives. The agent appeared only seconds after use of the Shunshin no Jutsu, in front of the Hunter-nin's path. The Boar seemed an amorphous shade of black, hooded. The mask hiding the identity was the only thing left exposed. No words were said.

The Hunter, whos path had been undeterred until now, paused mid-step, he regards the ANBU quietly. It seemed that it was understood between them what the next move would be, but who would make it? The blue glow seems to flicker and dim, and then suddenly surge brighter. A weight seems to settle on the area and the tingling of static electricity, a metallic taste fills the air. Small spiders of light seem to climb out of the blue glow and along the face of the shinobi, crackling with the elemental chakra of the shinobi as he focuses, yet he makes no move towards his opponent.

The silence was defining. The short amount of time passing seemed to drag by like a dead body. It was only once the two were staring upon each other that things seemed to get much darker. The blue glow which surrounded the Hunter, had been a bit showing. Seven tilted his head, his own Chakra mixing and gathering but not in a show that was as displaying. The agent just seemed to crouch a little, his height seeming unhindered even by such a change in posture. The ninja soon inclined there head to the Hunter, welcoming him with a gesture more distinguishable than a mask could reveal.

The Hunter needed no request to spring into a deadly attack. The blue glow suddenly flickered and went out, and then the Hunter was there in that moment when eyesight adjusted, when darkness consumed the world around him. Chakra surged through the shinobi's body as brutal strikes were laid out, a swift right hook followed by a roundhouse kick as the Hunter turns to meet his prey. The attacks themselves were hardly imaginative, though it was obvious the Hunter did not intend to reveal his prowess until he had tested his opponent's might.

Blinking, Seven seemed to remain still, unconscious of what this other ninja had been thinking. The moment eyes opened once more, Seven was seeing a masked man raising fist to attack him. The unmoving Boar, yet still cloaked, was unseen within his action of defense, as a wall of stone took the brunt, giving very little to the force of impact that was the Hunter nin of Kirigakure. However, a nice cracking concave was made in the wall, which gave clue of both a first, and secondary level of force. Seven remained stationary, even after such an attack, feet never budging. Meanwhile, though the agent seemed movement less, more actions had been made. A tag small and flimsy was left to fall from his cloak, mere paper left in a breeze. Well, the moment Nori's roundhouse was used, the tag activated, allowing the agent to simply disappear into a plume of black smoke, a slight distraction to throw off an otherwise close contact attack.

The agent made few steps as he slinked off, only rounding the Hunter to flank him. The Boar crouched low, and kept that way until a single hand had reached deep into the earth's soil. With a powerful, yet simple one handed lift, earth was then lifted upward, causing slabs of rock and ground to be up heaved in a chain like wave. Afterwards, what was produced from the wave was then batter against once more. A shoulder would bulk up within the confines of the cloak and from there, the up heaved rock and stone was smashed into debris with a sudden charge. This debris was dangerous upon hitting the air, split into large and small sharpened and blunted rock.

The hunter turned his attention towards the source of the rumbling earth, and stepped aside. A logical move, had the attack not been from beneath his feet. It shook and showered, and the Hunter fell towards the earth. As he neared the ground, the shinobi's hand shot out, striking the ground. He kicked his feet over and spun into the air to avoid the exploding rock and stone that barreled past. Behind his mask the Hunter smiled as he began to descend. In mid-air he began forming seals, and then shout his hands towards his opponent. Lightning burst from his fingers, tracing bright streaks through the air as they sought out the hide of the ANBU.

The abilities of this Hunter were observed with curiosity. It wasn't as if this masked man had been some easy pawn. If hidden operations like ANBU and the Hunters had the same standards, this man had been more than what met the eye. Seven watched the agile spin after the man pushed himself upward once more. From there lightning rained down, in the form of senbon as quick as they were lethal. From there, it was seeming that Seven was hit with every single one except those which had been off. The attacks hit, the cloak the agent of ANBU wore would be tattered with more holes than Swiss cheese. Once the attack was done, the rag of a cloak was then tossed away revealing… a small and burned little girl? Yes!! A small and bleeding little girl with a mask and full ANBU regalia was now fighting the Hunter. The worst part? She seemed to be really hurt from the attack, panting, and behaving as if very harmed.

Well, though hurt and in pain, the small girl was still masked and attacking, her little fist /smashing/ into the ground with a downward punch. The result, well, was a large wave of rock and stone rising in a wide cone, moving upward like a tsunami and coming back down like one. Meanwhile, if this attack had missed, inside it was yet another. Another version of the battered and bruised girl would come out and try to ram her little body into the Hunter.

The Hunter checked himself as the frame and appearance of his opponent changed, but he did not stop the onslaught. Quick as lightning, he dodged around the cone of earth and the false ANBU that attacked him, gunning for the true ANBU behind. With a flick of his wrist, a kunai takes flight through the air, charged with chakra. The Shinobi charges behind the flying blade, and lays on a barrage of punches. Silently he worked, the only sound that came from him was the increased rate of his breathing as the fight continued.

As the kunai flew the air, laced with chakra or not, it missed. It simply went through a image of a person whom was not there. However, when the punches came into being, they would all hit, dead center. The little girl seemed to hold her stance, only being pushed back an inch for every punch. When the last punch hit, the Henge Technique Seven was in vanished with a poof, revealing the true size of the large agent once more. This reveal, would also show not an /ounce/ of damage had been inflicted with the Lightning Needle Technique. As the new form and the Hunter stood close, the ANBU said with a voice disguised and metallic, "Turn back.", before the agent ducked, lowering themselves into a leg sweep. From there, the follow ups were a shoulder charge, and a regular and yet powerful palm strike.

The hunter steps over the ANBU's leg sweep as it swings around, and then turns sideways to allow Seven to pass him. As the ANBU agent turned and lunged his palm forward, the Hunter stood still. The blow would impact hard upon the Hunter, and almost simultaneously the faceless killer placed his hand on Seven's chest. The blow that had been meant for the Hunter was returned in force to the ANBU. Grinning behind his mask, the Hunter steps back a few feet. Ivory blades seem to appear from nowhere, each about the size of his forearm. He twirls them around in his hands as he shakes his head just slightly. His mission was clear, and the ANBU stood in his way. The Hunter gestures to the side, as if telling the ANBU that he were welcome to walk away.

The exchange was more than fruitless, it was, rather informative. As Seven seemed to miss. Not really unexpected since the strikes were fairly simple ones… They were testing. This was when things seem to advance farther up the chain. The strike hit the Hunter, sure, but the force upon impact bounced back, causing Seven to feel the strike. Of course, only thing Seven felt was immediate force which while causing the skid of a foot or two, also made the agent gasp for air. Looks like Seven got a reply. Nodding, the ANBU agent assumed stance once more facing what seemed to be now a transformed, and spiky hunter. As the blades protruded, Seven spoke. "Kaguya?", not really amazed but thinking aloud. "You honor me with such a hint.", was said before suddenly the ANBU came running in, apparently making an effort for a close contact attack.

Mid run, however, the ninja suddenly seemed to grow. In fact, they would double in size, right before a chain net of kunai was tossed ahead to hit Nori. Whether it missed or not, the Agent soon caught up, diving into the net themselves, and enlarging into a massive black ball. Skidding with a turn, the speed of the attack came full steam, and the Hunter was its target.

The hunter seemed nonchalant at the mention of the clan he might belong to, simply studying the ANBU a little longer, and then gesturing with the end of his blade back down the opposite direction of the path, like shooing an animal away. When the kunai came, however, the Hunter raised his blade, deflecting it.. He seemed somewhat surprised, but was well prepared to sidestep out of the way of the giant black ball Seven had become. The Kaguya reached up and scratched one side of his head, and then shrugged. He would begin following the ANBU, and skipped his feet a couple of times, and then spun into the air. The ivory blades glinted in the peeping moonlight as the Hunter became a whirl of blades and death. Suddenly, a spray of ivory senbon coated the earth, leaves and dirt blown back with the pressure of their impact. The Hunter would find his feet against a tree, throw one of his swords up into the air and spin a 360. As he came around, he launched an ivory shuriken at his opponent before landing on his feet and skidding to a halt, where would catch his blade behind his back and twirl it back to ready position with some bravado.

As the attack missed, Seven seemed to revert back to a form somewhat human, though at twelve feet, such was an understatement. As momentum carried the nin forward, the agent was force to skid into a halt. Turning just in time, the attack of the hunter was now seen, blades of ivory coming down in a hard rain. A single hand would be place forward as the rain fell, and then expanded to a large size. The hand alone was enough to block the simple attack. Once the rain was over, the same hand was then smashed into the earth with enough force to throw Seven upward and out of the way of the chakra laced shuriken. As the agent was thrown airborne, a foot was then enlarged, providing a large scale attack for which to pin the hunter down. From their, further enlargement would cause weight to grow heavier, pinning the boney hunter down.

As the ANBU lands his blows, the Hunter stands stoically. With each hit, the very earth around the shinobi explodes into the air, the impact obviously brutal, yet not phased he remains. The shinobi taps springs forward, the blades glinting in the night. His feet turn and spin, and then he swings a dastardly slash straight up as though to split the one known as Seven. He then kicks his legs over his head, performing a forward cartwheel, and leaps towards the ANBU. His body curls in on itself, and then he flings out his limbs. Spinning and twirling at tremendous speeds, the Hunter's blades glint like a thousand shuriken thrown at once.

This fight seemed more than worthy of the two foes which had now been forced to stand there perspective grounds. And as the wear and tear mounted own each, neither the ANBU, or the Hunter seemed to show any signs of fatigue. Even as the first attack slices Seven across the chest, the armor takes most of the brunt while doing much more underlying damage. Seven is pushed back, but not for long, as a /massive/ hand denies the last blur of strikes, one after another. With a push back, Seven ducks down, reaching both hands into the ground with ferocity. With the next lifting, Seven grunted audibly. Meanwhile the movement of earth seemed to force the ground to shake and rock, tremors beginning as the earth split. Before long, a large mass of earth seemed to now be held above the agent

Mountainous rock, not mere boulder, was held by power beyond that of a mere ninja. This individual, was /strong/. And just as strong as Seven was, the agent was even more so, now that they were actually /throwing/ the massive expanse of rock and stone at the Hunter.

As the mountain sank towards the Hunter, he wrapped his blades and knuckles together, and from between his clenched fists an ivory shield blossomed. Rising like the blade of an axe into the air, he tried splitting the mountainous rock. He would fail, as weigh of several tons rained down upon him. The shield broke in two halves upon impact. Pushing rock to the side, the hunter recovered, kicking the broken shield towards the one known as Seven. The hunter took this moment to twirl his blades again, watching the other intently as if deciding what to do next.

Though the mountainous rock had seemed to hit dead center upon the Hunter, it was obvious that the man was not to be put down yet. He managed to get himself out with ease. This was a key sign that the Hunter, needed to be put down. Having seen what was possible, Seven quietly seemed to began plotting efforts, the larger ninja now looking to do more than just discourage. When the rock had been placed in halves, the larger ninja had begun growth into an ever larger one. This growth would seen not to stop for a while. Before long, a large and fearsome ANBU agent, was now a /gigantic/ and fearsome opposition, very much looking to take initiative in this fight. With this rise in height, so came a rise in chakra, the larger agent now towering over all around him.

The hunter watched as his opponent grew… and grew. Soon he had to stare up to see the other's face, and then he laughed. It was the first sound he had made. Plunging the blades into the ground at his feet, the Hunter sprung up to a nearby limb, and using it like a springboard, launched into the air. Electricity crackled over his arm as he sped like a bullet towards his now gargantuan opponent. "I've never tried this on anyone your size. For your sake, I hope it works as intended." Suddenly the Hunter seems to flicker as his chakra surges, and he appears before the ANBU. His fist driving forward towards the humongous sternum.

As Nori seemed to skip up the Agent's leg and what not, the now gigantic Boar had no real qualms. The closer the target, the better. Those gigantic ear of Seven's could hear well the words of the Hunter as the attack was readied, and the ninja came flying in. But no matter how small the hunter was, a straight forward attack was a straight forward attack. Seven was prepare. Soon arms crossed the big agent's chest, allowing the attack to simply be blocked. Once contact had been made by him, the arms were thrown outward, sending the hunter nin flying away. It was then that the hunter, now airborne, had no choice but to be a target. In a sense, the hunter had been the size of a fly in comparison to his opponent. A large undertaking indeed. However large the task, a fly, in the end was still a fly. Pests usually need swatting after a while.

Once the smaller ninja had been in sight, Seven's hands grew slightly, and were caught into a powerful and mighty clap. The hands were meant to catch the hunter in between, causing him to be squashed, and broken, stunned by massive amounts of weight and power. The resulting impact of hand versus hand would send sound waves crashing through the skies. The sound of this attack was like thunder. Air pressure even within the vicinity of the hands would be disturbed greatly, causing the air in that one place to be parted.

The Hunter lunged, and his punch did… nothing. The blue glow reappeared and flickered as the shinobi blinked in disbelief, his concentration momentarily broken. Then the hands appeared to either side as he began to fall. Without much notice, and nothing better to defend himself, the Hunter releases a blast of chakra. It explodes outwards, strong enough to deflect almost any attack… and yet, the hands were just too much. The Akimichi was the victor, and like a squashed mosquito, the Hunter fell through the air towards the earth.

.

With a single exchange, like most fights in the ninja world or anywhere, the tide seemed turned. The oppressive might of the larger ninja was just that, powerful enough that even the Hunter's ability to redirect force could not deny. At this point, power was in the upper hand of the larger ninja. This chance, unlike that which was missed earlier, would be taken by Seven. For though the Hunter was downed, he was not necessarily /out/. Seven's body seemed to bulk up, veins and muscle becoming larger, more defined even through the agent's uniform. With wild grunting, chakra seemed to surround the agent in a visible aura, glowing blood red, and becoming like fire about the agents body. A stance change was stomped into, every gigantic stomp of Seven being registered as a small earthquake. As the agent crouched, the stance seemed to be like one who draws and arrow, fist tightening audibly.

Before long, muscle was retracted tight enough to rip, as all power went into one savage and unforgiving punch. Muscle exploded, Chakra meeting the Hunter's immobile body before fist would, sending him deeper into the earth, and attempting to do all but break him.

The hunter was… for lack of a better term, destroyed. Bones protrude from places they hadn't before, and probably weren't meant to, and the mask that had kept his face hidden was cracked, revealing a portion of his face and the blue eye, glowing slightly beneath the swollen mound of eyebrow and cheek. The shinobi would probably die where he was, barring some unusual power or the coming of a whole team of mednins. Who could know? What was obvious was that the Hunter was in no condition to get away on his own, and that they were far from any normal path through the forest.

Seven looked to the limp hunter before him, no expression apparent as the agent shrunk. The muscled body of the ANBU still pulsed with chakra as another more compact size was taken. A few scrapes, some broken ribs, but not as many injuries had. The hunter was not so lucky. Compassion, while it seemed foreign in war, did exist. Seven, though not caring for if the sentiment was returned, did want for no one to truly die. This warrior had stood against an agent one on one, and did well. The body was taken up and from there Seven vanished, leaving no trace in route to Konoha.